Learning To Love
by aerieljade
Summary: 'We hurt you because we love you,' my mom would always say. It's funny how someone can be telling you how much they love you one minute, and be sticking a needle in you the next. Kole centric, contains JeriKole. Dedicated to XxPhoenix FlightxX.


**This is based around my favorite TT character: Kole. She's such a complex character. I just love it! :) Enjoy!**

My whole life has been based around love. 'We hurt you because we love you.' My mom would always say. It's funny how someone can be telling you how much they love you one minute, and be sticking a needle in you the next. My parents claimed that they were trying to help, and in theory maybe they were. I was only a little kid though. I didn't understand it. As a kid you believe everything you hear. I was naive. But, they were my parents. I believed that they were doing what was best for me. Now that I'm older I see the truth though. I was their guinea pig. Needles being stuck in me ever day. All types of fluids that I, still to this day, have no clue what were, being injected in me.

The fact that they had the nerve to not only test me like a lab rat, but still tell me they loved me afterwords sickens me. Maybe thats why I didn't believe in love. I _used_ to not believe in love. People say 'I love you' all the time. Boyfriends tell their girlfriends that they love them, and yet when they break up they go off and find someone else to tell that too. Completely forgetting the girl they 'loved' originally.

Love is comforting. Love is what you tell your kid when they're hurt. 'I love you' fixes their problems. Knowing that someone is there for them when they need it soothes their worries. As a little kid I would love to hear my parents say 'I love you.' I would make good grades, try my hardest at everything I did, just so I could make them proud. At a young age I didn't understand why they preformed the experiments. I thought that it was because I wasn't good enough. I thought that they were trying to make me a better kid. I was so insecure. I just wanted to make my mommy and daddy proud. I wanted them to love me for me. Now that I'm older I finally realize that my attempts were pointless. Nothing I could have done would have stopped it. My parents taught me painful love. They showed me that love can hurt, and that not all love is genuine. Love can be a lie.

I did try to stop them though. I wasn't going to give in without a fight. As a toddler I was helpless, but as I grew older I got more rebellious. At around age ten was when I started to question things. I wasn't stupid. Granted, I _had _been having experiments performed on me since I was little, but I was smart enough to know that it wasn't normal for parents to do that to their kids. I started asking questions. 'Why do you let him do this to me?' I would ask my mom. Her answer was always be the same. 'We're doing whats best for you honey. Your father is helping you. We're trying to save you from what's to come.' What _they _thought was to come. My dad was a scientist. A mad scientist. He was paranoid. He believed that there was an impending nuclear holocaust coming up. He was attempting to to find a way for humanity to survive the fallout through forced evolution. He was trying to make me so that I was able to survive it once it hit. I guess he had good intentions. He just didn't execute them that way. I know he wanted what was best for me, but its hard to think that when you've been through what I've been through.

I never really though of the possibility of running away. It never occurred to me. I was a teenager when I first got the idea. It was after my dad had preformed his last experiment on me, which had the most side effects. My golden blond hair turned bubblegum pink, and I was granted the ability to turn into a solid crystal form. This experiment was the most painful. It took a lot of work. It was a rather complicated process. One second my body would feel as if it was lit on fire, and the next as if I was being frozen alive. It was horrible. I couldn't take it anymore. I planned my escape. That night I packed my things, and snuck out the window.

I ran. The fastest I had ever ran in my life. I never looked back. I kept running and running. We lived in the Arctic. My dad, being a scientist and a researcher, had wanted to move somewhere more isolated. Somewhere far away from the big cities. That way he could preform his experiments without having anyone ask questions. It was a good decision. People would most likely get curious if they saw a crystal girl with pink hair walking down the street. Plus, there was more room to preform experiments. More animals to run tests on. Anyway, as I was saying, we lived in the Arctic. I was running from home when I first encountered Dr. Light. I was a little suspicious, but I didn't question him. I told him about my powers. It seemed like a good idea at the time... or maybe it was just that I had been alone for so long, and that I just wanted someone to listen.

He turned out to be evil. He tried to use my powers against me. I ended up running. Again. Seems that I always run from my problems, rather than facing them head on. I ran and ran, until...

Falling. All I can remember is running and then falling. I don't even recall seeing a hole for me to fall into. All I know is that I was falling. I must have hit my head along the way, because when I woke up I was in a whole new world. At first I thought I was crazy. Dinosaurs were extinct. Everyone knows that. But I found myself literally surrounded by them. It looked like I had went back in time to the prehistoric age. Back when there was foliage _everywhere_, and dinosaurs roamed the Earth. It was weird, to say the least. I roamed around for a while. Looking for any sign of life, other than the dinosaurs.

I managed to find a cave for shelter. I went inside to soon find that it was already occupied. I met a caveman. The only word he could speak was 'Gnarrk.' So that's what I called him. He was afraid of me at first, and honestly, I was kind of afraid of him too. But eventually we became friends. Even though I couldn't understand him, it seemed that he could understand me. He was my first real friend. He risked his life to protect me, everyday. He was my best friend. He taught me friendship. He taught me brotherly/sisterly love. We didn't understand each other, but at the same time we did. When you love someone you find ways to communicate.

Meeting the Titans changed things. Our home had never been intruded before. I wasn't sure if I could trust them. Although, I wasn't going to sit back and watch them get killed by dinosaurs. I'm a nice person. Its just my personality. I try to be the sweetest I can be at all times. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in my book. Once I saved them and got to talking with them I realized that they weren't so bad after all. They even gave us a communicator in case we got into trouble!

The communicator came in handy later on when the Brotherhood of Evil came after us. We contacted the Titans and even got to help take down the Brotherhood.

It wasn't until after the battle that things started to change. We all went back to the Titans Tower. I got to meet all the other Titans that I hadn't had the chance to meet before. One in particular being Jericho...

I've never been one to believe in love at first sight. Until I saw him. I was headed to the roof to get some fresh air and do some thinking, when I first saw him. He was sitting on the roof, feet dangling over the edge, strumming away at his guitar. I walked quietly over, trying not to disturb him, and sat beside him. He continued to play for awhile, and then he noticed me. He jumped, and hit a wrong chord, causing a loud '_clank'_. I quickly apologized and introduced myself. He signed to me that it was fine, and introduced himself as Jericho. We became fast friends.

It took a while for him to finally work up the courage to ask me out. We were later assigned teams, sadly, we were put on different ones. We weren't able to see each other as frequently, so he actually asked me out over the communicator. It was so cute to see him blushing as he quickly signed the words _'Will you go out with me?'_. I, of course, agreed. Herald came and transported me to their tower and escorted us on our date. It was perfect. I was slowly falling more and more in love with him. He taught me romantic love.

Jericho was a very affectionate person. He always went out of his way to make me feel special. He would write me songs and poems, all of that corny stuff. He would always tell me that he loved me. I would always reply with, 'I know.'

I loved him. I just couldn't admit it. I had been hurt so many times by the people that supposedly loved me. I couldn't risk it. Did he actually love me? I know in my heart that he did, but my mind said otherwise. I was so insecure. I kept doubting that he really loved me. What if he was using me? What if he was just saying that, like my parents used to? My head was reeling.

It wasn't until our one year anniversary that I knew for sure. He took me onto the roof, and did the sweetest thing. He got down on one knee and held out a promise ring. He told me that the next time he got down on one knee it would be to propose to me. He told me that he wanted to spend forever with me. I know one year doesn't seem like that long, but for us it was. He told me how much he loved me, and that one day he wants me to be his wife. He held me tight and slid the ring on my finger, and kissed me with so much love that I felt like my heart would explode.

_'I love you, Kole'_. He signed.

'I love you too, Jericho.' I replied.

**Fin. I just felt like writing this. It's kind of like a look into Kole's mind. Like I said, she's a complex character. I know her past doesn't really make much sense, but I was trying to include parts of the cartoon and comic series together. And I just **_**had**_ **to include some JeriKole. They are way too cute! :) I feel like I kind of made Kole a little bit OOC. She's usually all bubbly, but I know that her past isn't something to be taken lightly... Oh! I forgot to mention. I would like to dedicate this to XxPhoenix FlightxX. She writes AMAZING stories. She's a great author, and inspires me to keep writing. If it wasn't for her I never would've discovered JeriKole. So, big thank you to Phoenix! **


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